TNTP Teaching Fellows reviews

Quitting my job to be a part of this program was the worst decision I ever made. No one who works for them is interested in serving underprivileged students. Most of the coaches and managers were there to be promoted in their own careers. They use the promise of a fast road to teaching to lure people from across the country into leaving their jobs while saying 85-90% pass Pre-Service training. The truth is, 50% are cut or drop out throughout training and another 25% are let go. The way the employees speak to the fellows is demeaning. Imagine being on a job interview every day for 6 weeks straight where the interviewers talk to you like a child and send you home with 4-5 hours of homework after working a 10 hour day. The content area assignment is seemingly completely random. I was assigned to teach a class that I had no background in and as a result, did not know how to teach. These students deserve better than unqualified teachers with no experience. Also, if you do get cut from the program, they'll dump you via email with no explanation. Classy. I just hope as their application for next summer opens up that I save someone the trouble, money, and unnecessary frustration that I experienced this summer. Research your options and read up on the research about TFA and TNTP grads. None of these programs are helping anyone but themselves.

Pre-service training in the summer is hell. It's a complete life-suck, and many people drop out or "fail" the training and can't teach for the district. If you do pass pre-service training, you're subject to a year of "ACE" observations and threats of not being recommended for a teaching certificate. The staff is young and inexperienced and incredibly inauthentic, sometimes even cult-like. Weekly 3-hour seminars during the school year are a total waste of time and are comprised mainly of BS "practice" teaching to fellow residents (as if that's an appropriate approximation of teaching children). Coaches by and large do not do enough to support residents and advocate on their behalf. Furthermore, both coaches, evaluators, and staff are outside the inner-city culture and refuse to seriously talk about the challenges of teaching in an urban district. If you ask any kind of serious or sincere question, all you'll get is a scripted response with a bunch of "Teach Like a Champion" jargon in it.